Relief checks being cut back

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri is notifying about 9,600 poor people that their monthly cash payments will be cut from the maximum of $80 to $9 beginning Feb. 1.

State officials said that funding for the program was insufficient to continue the current payment rate. State law requires a grant reduction when appropriations fall short, officials said.

The general relief program provides assistance to needy and medically unemployable adults who cannot qualify under any other assistance program. The payments come entirely from state funds.

People who get the checks are unemployed, disabled and have little income to meet basic needs. To be eligible, a person cannot have more than $1,000 in assets. Most do not have young children, or else they could qualify for other government welfare and medical programs.

Social service groups are decrying the cut.

"This is not acceptable," said Robin Acree, executive director of Grass Roots Organizing of Mid-Missouri. "These are the most poor and desperate in the state who the governor pledged not to hurt."

When the Legislature approved the budget for the current fiscal year, it appropriated $6.3 million for the program, $2.4 million short of what was needed to keep the rate at $80 per month for the entire fiscal year.

Division of Family Services Director Denise Cross said it was hard to project the caseload for the program.

"When we realized the funding would not sustain the $80 rate, we took steps to begin the proration effective in February," she said.

Although the $9 checks may seem hardly worth sending, state budget director Linda Luebbering said division officials believe they need to send the checks to fulfill the rest of the budget appropriation.

Eddie Binion, executive director of the Southside Welfare Rights Organization in the St. Louis area, called the move catastrophic.

"There is no way you can get a room for $9 a month. You can't get a room for $9 a week. I'm not sure the shelters are equipped or have enough room for all of these people," Binion said.

Gov. Bob Holden, in his State of the State address Wednesday, proposed to eliminate the general relief program beginning July 1. Holden had proposed the same thing last year, but lawmakers came up with the $6.3 million to keep it going a while longer.